::latencyproject::

Who doesn't love playing in the snow? MiniFem2 and I spent a good amount of time today out in the yard. MiniFem had a cold, so was not up to playing outside.

Along with having me pull her all over the place (woods included), riding on her sled behind the ATV, she absolutely loved riding in the snow the most.

"Faster, Faster Faster daddy..."

posted by latency at 1/18/2009 07:59:00 PM

Mini-me and I were sitting in the office yesterday. We were reading supermotojunkie, oyl forums, planetminis forums, thumpertalk and watching some race footage and motogp testing. When Fem came in, she had to shoot a pic.

It all starts....here:

posted by latency at 1/18/2009 09:09:00 AM

Saturday, January 03, 2009

So what did you do today? Watch a game, check out some things on the web? Play some games, maybe console or pc? Maybe you slept in till 12, because you could.

I...on the other hand, will never be able to sleep that late with the 4 human alarm clocks in my house. So Fem and I started the day on the renovation hunt, looking for materials for the next reno...GASP. I just finished the laundry room, next up, girls bathroom.

So, after doing that, installing all new hardware on the kitchen cabinets (it was an impulse buy today), I was able to make my way to the garage. I have officially started mini-fem's frame-off restoration of her 2004 Xtreme X-49 50cc 4-Stroke ATV. I bought this little guy from Craigslist last year, and I have had serious issues with it. I keep scratching my head to try and figure out what the previous owner could have done to get it in this BAD of a condition. I have determined, that it spent at least half of it's life stored outside.

So last year, it started like this, looked good, but was really nice on the outside and a disaster on under the plastics:

Lose the bars, remove the battery, remove the body work, remove the left side cover, remove the carb...this is the first issue. The intake boot going into the head has a 2 inch gash. That needs replaced:

Next up, getting rid of the wheels and all of the 'protective' black plastic engine shrouding:

Ouch, look at that rear brake. Completely bound up with mud, rocks and debris. Time to clean those pads and get the calipers unfrozen:

Then time to pull the other side cover. This cooling fan, had at LEAST, 12 inches of inseam from what looks to have been some poor kids toughskins, or maybe lee jeans. Unbelieveable this thing ran:

Then, after some review of the service manual, it was time, for, the...motor extraction:

Here is the beast. The head itself is toast, both exhaust ports were destroyed when Captain Goober the handy man previous owner used drywall screws to secure a loose exhaust pipe...FI(*$&$#!!!!:

Next up, time to lose the rear axle and shock. Shock is completely locked and bound up...will need replaced:

So cute! :

Here is the wire snarled harness. Captain Sr. Ding Dong before me, decided he would cut wires, HOT GLUE others, and fray most. I am going to have hand rebuild this guy to get it in good dependable working order:

And that brings us to the last shot of the quad. Ready for the paint, rust, weld flack and grime removal, I am left with just the bare frame. I am going to start cleaning this guy in the upstairs paint shop tomorrow. Time to clean it up, and make this thing look better than when it rolled off the chinese assembly line (if more than one person actually worked on it):

Thought I would also toss up a shot of the shop as it is right now. SO hard to keep things in order. You would think this garage as large as it is, would be plenty of space, BUT IT NEVER IS!!! You can see in this shot, I have three active projects going at one time....the mini-quad frame off, the NSR50R (awaiting parts), and the PitsterPro X2R that I recently redid the exhaust on...so many motors and pistons and SO LITTLE time...

....Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...and one last shot of my haven:

posted by latency at 1/03/2009 08:30:00 PM

God love the internet...

In finding an ATV forum today, I answered a post on the minifem's Xtreme x-49 and quickly was answered with someone else giving me some information that was priceless!

Apparently, the engine in the x-49 is a very near clone of the GY6 50CC 4 stroke developed by Honda and produced in the 80's. While Honda is no longer using the perfected design, many chinese and korean atv, scooter and buggy manufacturers are.

So, what does this mean?!? I have found a source of parts, a TON of sources of parts. If I even wanted to, I could grab a $299 crate engine..."oh so tempting, must resist...the ... buy it now...button..."

posted by latency at 1/03/2009 12:43:00 AM

Friday, January 02, 2009

So, many of you know that I bought my 'vintage' quad a few years ago on Ebay. Scored a great deal for a small 200cc fourstroke Honda TRX200SX. It came with a plow, which, was the primary reason I bought it, so I could push snow on our rediculously long driveway.

After spending some time on the quad, rebuilding some things, un-freezing the brakes with Mark, replacing busted levers, and getting it running in tip-top condition, it quickly grew from just a snow pusher to a mini-yard thrasher. Fast forward to that quad getting a good buddy of mine re-into quads, and he goes out and buys a Grizzly. So he immediately got it registered and got an APV sticker and was going to Wayne all the time...without me, beause my quad was NOT titled, so I could NOT get a Wayne pass.

So, early this fall, I started looking into the process for titling a 1986 Honda (which in Ohio, no ATV's were sold with titles at this time). It was ugly...really ugly, affadavits, bill of sales, proof of purchase....blah...blah. So, I was digging in my files, and I came across a packet of stuff that the wife had filed away when I bought the quad. Low and behold, in there, was a title from the original owner (from Illinois, I bought my quad from a Sheriff in Michigan) and it was ready to be signed over. So last weekend, I trecked up to the local BMV with my title in hand, and they politely let me know that I simply had to go through the out of state title transfer process. I would just need to bring the quad up for an inspection, and then they would give me the paperwork to go to the title agency for issuance of a state of Ohio title, then I would go back to the DMV to get my registration. Fast forward to today, after ATV inspections, paying Ohio Sales tax on the quad I bought two years ago....and I now have a registered ATV to ride on public land!

posted by latency at 1/02/2009 11:59:00 PM

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